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Sofia Fishy finished her work here in New York, it was March 3th, Saturday.

Originally planning to return to Europe today, Gucci still has a lot of things to deal with. A reception invitation from the Leibold couple made her postpone the trip until tomorrow.

At around 06:30 in the evening, Sophia rushed to the Gramercy Park Hotel in Midtown with Angela Ahrendts, who had officially become the president of Gucci's US branch.

The two entered the banquet hall of the hotel. Many guests had already arrived and were chatting about their respective topics in groups.

The Leibolds came up to welcome them together, exchanged greetings with Sofia and Angela, signaled the two women to be free, and then turned to greet other guests.

The new New York mayoral election will be held in November at the end of the year. Tonight's banquet is a fundraising reception held by the Rayboulds in their private names for the Democratic candidate David Dinkins who is running for the mayor of this term.

Of course, everyone knew that the real benefactor behind the reception was Simon himself.

David Dingkins' rival happened to be Rudy Giuliani, the Southern District of New York prosecutor who had investigated Simon.

Although there are some rifts with Rudy Giuliani, this reception was not held against him, but to run the political contacts of the Westeros Corporation.

In just a few years, billions of dollars of wealth have been gathered. If the company under Simon wants to continue to expand, it is doomed to have to deal with the federal government.

If you only think of cramming when you encounter trouble, it obviously won't work.

Simon previously refused to bring local capital into the Japanese financial market, and James Raybould reminded him that he missed an opportunity to establish contact with traditional American capital forces.Although Simon still chose to refuse, he also instructed James to start running the political contacts of Westeros Corporation.

Moreover, Simon also directly approved a fund of 1000 million US dollars, which is only the budget for this year.

In an era when most of the top rich only own billions of dollars in assets, very few rich people can easily hand out $1000 million in cash just to build a political network.However, after a brief surprise, James quickly put himself into action.

Building political connections doesn't mean betting on the presidential race.

In fact, because every move of the President of the United States is subject to the attention of many people, and the power is not as great as imagined, the return on investment is actually very low.

In contrast, only by becoming the behind-the-scenes benefactor of the Federal Senate and House of Representatives or important officials can weave a truly unbreakable network of contacts.

Many years later, the deep-rooted political influence of the Koch family in the United States was established in this way. With the large amount of political donations invested every year, no matter which party of the two parties in the United States won the presidency, the Koch family has dozens of officials in the federal government. Spokespersons occupy various high positions.

With this powerful political influence, the Koch family controls a huge energy empire that is very sensitive in any country, but basically has not encountered troubles such as anti-monopoly.

According to last year's "Forbes" data, the brothers Charles Koch and David Koch, who are currently in power in the Koch family, both have assets of only 11 billion US dollars. The combined net worth of the two brothers is not as large as Simon alone. It has not yet formed the kind of influence that came later.

Simon was reminded by James, and immediately had the idea of ​​replicating the Koch family's political network model.

In fact, the Koch family only started to rise in the 70s and [-]s, and may have been in business for a few years longer than Simon.But again, Simon also has his own advantages. Not only is he young enough to have enough time to do this, but his personal wealth is even better than that of the Koch family.

After making a decision, Simon did not hesitate to take out 1000 million US dollars for James to 'test the waters'.

Moreover, Simon was not so greedy that he wanted to step on two boats, but decisively bet on the Democratic Party.

If James can use the 1000 million US dollars to achieve the desired results this year, Simon plans to continue to substantially increase the budget in this area next year.If James can't satisfy Simon, he will make a decisive substitution.

Simon did not tell James Raybould his specific plan, but James did not squander the money just because he suddenly got it.

Although Janet's financial audit of Daenerys Entertainment at the beginning of the year did not affect Westeros, James also realized that the young man who seemed to have given him a lot of management authority was not as careless as he imagined .

Since officially becoming the president of Westeros Corporation, James Raybould has managed the huge assets held by the company in an orderly manner, and Simon has not treated him badly.

Just the directorship of those 16 technology companies can bring him millions of dollars in income every year. Although his fixed salary in Westeros is not too high, Simon is quite generous in terms of bonuses.

In the past year, including the $500 million bonus that Simon offered him, James' total annual income reached $800 million, which is already the salary that only the CEOs of many Fortune 500 companies can get.

Although the growth of Simon's personal assets is even more astonishing, James did not overestimate his own strength.He's very happy with what he's getting paid.After all, without Simon, the law firm run by him and his wife would only bring him a million dollars a year at most.

What's more, as long as the Westeros Corporation continues to operate well, James believes that Simon will definitely not be stingy in giving him more in the future.What's more, what he got wasn't just monetary rewards. The class of the Leibold family in the federal society had also been greatly improved.

Sophia is French. According to the "Federal Election Act", foreigners are not allowed to provide political contributions.In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, James Raybould also specially reminded Sofia of this.

Therefore, Sophia's attendance at this reception is purely for socializing.

Although Simon is only an upstart who has just risen in the last two years, his billion-dollar assets rank third in the United States. The large number of companies held by Westeros naturally form a very large potential network.

James Raybould just so happened to be another guy who was very good at running things.

Near seven o'clock, in the banquet hall of the Gramercy Hotel, hundreds of Hollywood stars, big names in the media, technology company executives, Wall Street elites, and Manhattan celebrities gathered together.

David Dingkins is about 60 years old this year and previously served as the mayor of Manhattan, New York.

After James Raybould personally presided over the warm-up, David Dinkins stepped onto the front desk of the banquet hall and began a routine speech about his campaign philosophy.

A few minutes later, Dinkins' speech ended, and the reception officially began amid applause from everyone.

The network resources in the film and television and media industries can provide great help to Gucci’s operations. Sophia and Angela shuttled through the crowd, and soon exchanged business cards with many guests. A heroine of the drama "Ultimate Police Net" made an appointment to entertain her at the Gucci store on Fifth Avenue tomorrow.

Celebrities are actually the best exposure carriers for luxury goods.

The reception lasted for more than an hour without knowing it. Sophia was talking with Robert Iger, and the Leibolds came over together. The couple also brought about a teenager.

Iger saw the boy standing beside Rebold, and said with a smile, "Jim, you are finally willing to let Philip come out to see the world."

"Yeah, he's going to college soon, and he can get in touch with these things," James Rebold replied, and then introduced to Sophia: "Sophie, this is my son Philip. Philip, this It's Lady Sophia Fisher."

"Hello, Philip," Sophia reached out to shake hands with the boy, noticing the blushing look on his face, and said with a smile, "I know your sister very well. Jim said you are going to college. Think about which one to apply for?" Is there a school?"

Philip glanced at his father and responded politely: "Yale, Ms. Fish."

Sophia nodded and said, "Yale, that's a great university."

After a brief chat, everyone got to know each other, and the Leibolds took their son and walked to other guests.

Iger watched the Rayboulds leave, shook his head slightly and said to Sophia: "Jim and Carly are actually a bit too strict in their children's discipline. In recent years, Jim has kept Philip in a boarding school. They are all in Manhattan but Children are not allowed to go to day school. Philip is as bright as Jenny, but also as shy as Jenny, which is the result of his parents being too strong."

Sophia had a good impression of the polite boy just now, and said, "It's nothing, I'm also very strict with my own children."

On the other side, the Rayboulds were taking their son to socialize in the crowd. James' assistant came over and whispered something in his ear. Hearing that David Dinkins was about to leave, James told his wife a few words and went to the entrance of the banquet hall. go.

Seeing James approaching, David Dinkins shook hands with him again and said, "Jim, thank you for your arrangement tonight, but I have to fly to Washington tomorrow morning."

"Of course it's okay," James said, and after Dinkins greeted some other guests, he said, "I'll take you out."

Leaving the banquet hall, James and Dingkins' entourage consciously fell behind some distance.

"It's actually like this, David, I heard a very interesting thing, the recent Michael Milken case, have you paid attention to it?"

The two passed by the elevator, and David Dingkins naturally continued to walk towards the stairs, saying: "Of course I know, Giuliani has been holding on to this case before leaving, but unfortunately, he still left before he could close the case." .”

Junk bond king Michael Milken's insider trading case can be said to be the most sensational financial case on Wall Street recently.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York have been secretly investigating Michael Milken since the "Wall Street" actor prototype Ivan Boesky case three years ago. Multiple felony charges were filed.

Rudy Giuliani wanted to close the case before leaving his position as prosecutor of the Southern District Court because putting a securities tycoon like Michael Milken in jail would give him a lot of political capital.

James casually helped David Dinkins open the stair door, and the two walked down the steps together. He continued: "Everyone knows that although the SEC and the Southern District Attorney's Office cooperate, they often have a competitive relationship. The SEC has always been ahead of Giuliani in the investigation of the Milken case. As far as I know, as early as the end of last year, Gary Lynch, who was in charge of the case in the SEC Enforcement Division, wanted to file a lawsuit against Milken, but was rejected by Julian Nicky stopped."

David Dingkins shook his head slightly, and said, "Jim, this kind of thing is normal between the SEC and the prosecutor's office."

"But, I heard," James looked back, no one followed, and then continued: "It's just a rumor, David, I heard that Giuliani threatened Milken on the phone in order to prevent the SEC from suing Milken in advance. Gary Lynch, if Lynch dares to do this earlier, the Southern District Attorney's Office is on Milken's side."

David Dinkins heard this, and immediately stopped and looked at James: "Are you sure?"

Rudy Giuliani has been trumpeting his achievements in fighting gangs and financial crimes as the Southern District Attorney during his campaign, which is also his biggest political leverage in this campaign.However, if Giuliani really said that the SEC initiated the lawsuit in advance and he was on the side of the criminals, it would definitely have a serious impact on his image of a righteous law enforcer.

James also stopped and said: "David, I can only say that the credibility of this matter is very high. Moreover, you should get confirmation from Lynch, not from me."

David Dinkins nodded, showing a little eagerness on his expression. He reached out and shook James again, and said, "Also, say hello to Simon for me. I look forward to having a chance to get together."

James smiled and said, "There will definitely be a chance."

Now that what should be said has been said, James did not continue to accompany Dingkins downstairs, watched the other party and the assistant who followed him leave, and James returned to the banquet hall.

What he just told Dingkins is naturally not fabricated, but the source of the news is not enough for outsiders.As a former financial lawyer, James has accumulated a lot of contacts in this area, and now he has strong capital support, so he can do certain things with ease.

Because of the strict restrictions on the amount of individual donations in the campaign bill, the donation that David Dinkins can get for such a fundraising reception may not cost as much as the reception itself.

What everyone invests in is actually a network.

To establish this network, the Westeros Corporation naturally needs to come up with some more valuable chips.Otherwise, even if elected, David Dingkins will only regard the Westeros Corporation as a general funder, and will not become a closer political ally.

For Rudy Giuliani, James actually looked down on this person very much.

A purely speculative politician who easily changed parties in order to be able to serve in the Reagan administration, and has no firm stand for his own political achievements.Too ambitious but unable to let go of selfish desires, her ass is very dirty.Running for the mayor of New York is already Giuliani's political ceiling, and it is basically impossible to go further.

Chapter 247 Holding Increase Announcement (Revised)

After the fundraising reception that night, the media did not immediately report the news of Rudy Giuliani’s inappropriate remarks during the investigation of the Milken case. Instead, several newspapers in New York had interesting reports on the fundraising reception. .

James Raybould was not surprised by this.

It was enough that David Dinkins called him again on Sunday night, and some kind of thank you said that the other party had confirmed the availability of the information he had provided.

The voting time for the mayoral election is November at the end of the year, and the revelations that can most damage the opponents must be used when the voting is approaching to have the best effect.

In the new week, Westeros’ technology stock reduction operation, which lasted for more than a month, was completely completed, and all six planned technology stocks were cleared.

The six technology stocks including Apple lost a total of about 6% of their value during this share reduction compared to their stock prices before the reduction, and Westeros’ cash out totaled $4.69 million.

On the other hand, although Westeros has a capital share of 5 million U.S. dollars in Cersei Capital, the 2 million U.S. dollars that Simon originally invested had produced good profits before the funds of all parties were integrated. In the follow-up, the Luo company only added 2.7 million US dollars to make up 5 million US dollars.

Therefore, the cash out funds minus Cersei Capital's appropriation, plus another part of the profits that Daenerys Entertainment turned over after completing the financial audit and some fund balances of Westeros itself, there is still a total of 2.6 million US dollars in New York. use.

While reducing his holdings of stocks in companies such as Apple, at the request of Simon, James Raybould began to secretly absorb the stocks of Microsoft and Intel.

On March 3, Westeros notified the SEC and the media of its shareholding increase for Microsoft and Intel.

According to the announcement of the increase in holdings disclosed by the "Wall Street Journal", in the past month, Westeros once again bought 155 million shares of Microsoft shares, holding a total of 525 million shares, with a shareholding ratio of 10.19%; buying Intel shares 550 million shares, the total number of shares held is 1850 million shares, and the shareholding ratio is 10.08%.

Throughout the process of increasing its holdings, Westeros invested a total of US$2.53 million in the two companies, including US$0.85 million for Microsoft and US$1.68 million for Intel.

With the release of Westeros' shareholding increase announcement, the stock prices of Microsoft and Intel rose in response in the next two trading days.

As of the close of trading on Friday, March 3, compared to before Westeros disclosed its shareholding increase information, Microsoft's market value reached US$17 billion, an increase of 30.2%, and Intel's market value reached US$6 billion, an increase of 53.6%.

So far, Microsoft and Intel have also become the two largest stocks in Westeros' technology stock portfolio, but the total value of these two stocks has reached 8.38 million US dollars, accounting for the remaining 19 listed technology companies held by Westeros. 15.69% of the total value of the shares of $53 billion.

In addition to the two stocks of Microsoft and Intel, Westeros holds only 7% of SUN's shares in other technology stocks with a value of more than 1 million U.S. dollars, and the specific figure is 1.17 million U.S. dollars.

The rest of the technology holdings are worth less than $1 million.

Silicon Graphics, which works closely with Daenerys special effects, has the highest shareholding ratio of 11%, but the company's current total market value is still only 3.2 million US dollars.Oracle's shareholding ratio is 9%, and the total market value of this database software company has not yet broken through the 10 billion mark in the near future, only 9.6 million US dollars.

Except for the 5 stocks of Microsoft, Intel, SUN, Silicon Graphics and Oracle, the shareholding ratio of the other 14 listed technology stocks is basically maintained at around 5%, and the market value is far from that of Microsoft and Intel. compared to the giants.

Simon actually hopes to continue to increase his stake in Microsoft and Intel to 15%.

However, compared with the 87 stock market crash, the cost of increasing holdings of these two companies has become higher and higher. In order to increase holdings of these two companies, Simon had to temporarily give up buying stocks of other companies with great potential.

After Westeros increased its holdings this time, the liquidity in James' hands quickly shrank to the level of millions of dollars. He didn't even reserve the capital gains tax for the previous reduction of technology stocks such as Apple. The operation of the Japanese financial market or the profits from Daenerys Entertainment will provide blood transfusions to Westeros, and if it is necessary, they will continue to increase their debts.

Melbourne.

Entering late March, the aftermath of the coma incident has completely passed.

Simon has been filming a car chase in the "Batman" script in recent days, which is the ultimate showdown between Batman and Black Mask at the end of the film, and Catwoman is also involved.The important props of Batman, such as Batfighter, Batmobile and Batmotor, will be used.

Therefore, the most difficult thing to control in this scene is the confidentiality work.

Because for location shooting, even if the streets are blocked, all-pervasive paparazzi can hide in the buildings on both sides of the road and take sneak shots, which is impossible to guard against.

After thinking about it, Simon simply released the concept map of several major props of "Batman".Prior to this, the image of Catwoman had been exposed.

The last secret job of the crew is to ensure that the plot of the film will not be leaked.

On Route 33 near the sea in the south of the city, the time is 11 o'clock in the middle of the night.

The crew has already filmed two other sets of shots, and what is going to be filmed at this time is the scene where Catwoman rides Batman's cool Batmotor and rushes out of the flying Batfighter to assist Batman in chasing the black mask.

The picture plan of Catwoman riding a bat motorcycle and falling from the underbelly of the bat fighter will be completed through CG.

However, the speed of the electric bat-motor built by the crew with hub motor technology is only 30 kilometers per hour. In order to pursue the extreme speed of the lens, Simon hopes that the speed of this set of shots can reach a real speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour, which requires external forces to drag the bat-motor .

This is one of the difficulties in this shooting. In the previous test, the Batmobile was dragged and then overturned.

In addition, in this scene, Alfred's remote-controlled unmanned bat fighter will continue to hover above Catwoman. In fact, it is a helicopter hanging the bat fighter for low-altitude shooting. There is danger.

However, compared to other action scenes of Catwoman, the risk factor of this scene is still very low.

Valerie Golino has done most of Catwoman's roles, and after discussions, she finally decided to play herself.

After careful preparations, and the shooting was about to start, Simon stepped forward again and explained to Valerie Golino, who was sitting astride the Batbike in a sexy posture: "Riley, remember, if you feel that the car is going to tip over, first Jumping in time, the protective ability of the catwoman costume on your body is still very good."

Valerie Golino was about to put on the highly restored red catwoman glasses when she heard the words, "Simon, what if I fail to jump off?"

Simon felt that Valerie's tone was very relaxed, obviously not too worried, so he didn't say any more, and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you didn't jump down."

Valerie Golino became suspicious, and raised her voice: "Huh?"